I have no idea how strong this deck can actually be in standard, but it sure looks very streamlined and powerful. I really like the amount of tutor cards you've included.

You've absolutely earned my +1 and I you a lot of success with the list.

i would suggest 2x Make a Stand to keep ur paladin alive, 3x Settle the Wreckage to keep living, , -1 Ixalan's Binding, -2 Board the Weatherlight. -2 Danitha Capashen, Paragon

I'm thinking Sheltering Light is probably essential for this deck as almost any removal spell will disrupt the combo. Transmogrifying Wand or Shalai, Voice of Plenty just because they are hits off Board the Weatherlight and are still strong on there own.

Zhalfirin Void and Treasure Map  ^Flip could also be useful to find the combo and Arch of Orazca could give you some late game against control.

So what's your opinion on Fumigate good for the deck (until rotation of course) or bad?

Not so sure about Fumigate. The trouble is you can't have played Famished Paladin before it so you'd be casting paladin turn 6 and hoping to combo off turn 7. This gives your opponent way too much time to find removal seeing as the combo is pretty fragile and you don't have ways to protect it. In addition Fumigate is especially good against green creature based decks which are already your best matchups.

In combination with card advantage spells such as Treasure Map  ^Flip, Sunset Pyramid, Karn, Scion of Urza or Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants it could work but I think with this build you are more on the "assemble fast and hope they don't have it" plan than "grind into the long game and assemble so many times they run out of removal" plan.

stensiagamekeeper, I agree, what cards would you suggest?

Honestly, If I was building around this combo I'd put it in a mono-white life gain shell. Instead of being a control deck with 24 cards that don't do anything unless you combo you have an explosive aggro deck with 4 cards, a.k.a. Sorcerer's Wand, that say "if the paladin has lifelink I win". Ajani's Pridemate, Adanto Vanguard and Famished Paladin are all great things to enchant with your life-gain enchantments. Something like Famished Wand except with Sheltering Light over Healing Grace and 4 Adanto Vanguard over half the Bishop of Rebirth and Ajani's Pridemate.

Hi there Guys! I can't believe how popular this deck is! After testing, I need to put in Sheltering Light and I'm also going to buy another Shalai, Voice of Plenty and putting both in the main deck. So what I'm asking is for cards to replace with 3 Sheltering Light and 2 Shalai, Voice of Plenty and then what to put in the sideboard to replace Shalai. Thanks!

In any other standard I'd agree with Sheltering Light, but so much removal is exiling. What are you hoping to stop with 3 sheltering lights?

@jld592 White removal is exile, but take a look over at black and you see Dire Fleet Poisoner, Cast Down, Murder, Price of Fame and Severed Strands strands to name the common black removal spells.

There's also Assassin's Trophy and plenty of burn spells.

If you're looking for cuts I'd suggest Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle and Revitalize. Mavren is gonna do nothing when you don't have profitable attacks and even at his best a 1/1s a turn ain't that big of a deal a lot of the time. As for Revitalize I don't think the lifegain triggers matter enough that you'd want this (4cmc draw 2 with Dawn of Hope and 2cmc +1/+1 and card with Ajani's Pridemate). After that maybe Ajani's Welcome and Bishop's Soldier but from there the rest of the deck starts looking essential.

20 lands seems a little low tbh. Speaking of lands, a couple Zhalfirin Void is a freeroll with your color requirements.

Sideboardwise:

1. I don't think Sphinx’s Decree works how you think it does. It stops them playing spells on THEIR turn and isn't going to work like a Silence effect to let you combo.

2. Against burn Shield Mare is backbreaking and I also quite like Healing Grace as it can counter Risk Factor quite effectively and can also protect your must answer creatures from removal while also gaining life.

3. I have a crazy theory that Tocatli Honor Guard is better than Sentinel Totem against the graveyard deck. Would you rather shut down their entire game plan (branchwalker, jadelight, chups, findbroker, izoni, wildgrowth, glowspore, supplier and even bugler and autumn in white builds) or fizzle Find / Finality one time? Obviously it dies to more stuff and Ajani's Welcome might have to be boarded out but personally I think it's worth it. The other consideration is it won't work against anything Arclight Phoenix related but that's a lot less common I think. Ok, rant over ;).

Anyway good luck. Hopefully with the rotation this combo gets more viable in constructed.

Take Heart wouldn't be that bad to put in.

This deck is great but what is its record?

It's win/loss ratio is currently 16 wins to 7 losses

the fact that we can't run Crested Sunmare in this deck hurts me. By the way, how do you deal with control just counterspelling any of your combo peices onces they've seen your combo?

Well that strategy is usually stopped by overwhelming our opponent with creatures. Let's see your counterspell deal with my 10/10 Ajani's Pridemate!!!!!

Loving this concept. I have a quick question about sideboarding though, as I'm junk at it. What would you take out of the main deck for each sideboard option?

Well, when you put in the Tocatli Honor Guard, you take out Ajani's Welcome because they're a non-bo. Shalai goes in the place of Bishop's Soldier and with the removal, it's up to you whether you need the creatures or not.

hey, I was surprised not to see Shield Mare on the list?

but a greater recommendation is not to stay mono white:

Splashing green for an Emaria or two and a couple of Trostani would give you a good win con outside your combo to better beat decks that know how to beet your combo as a couple of removal pieces does destroy it. This would also allow knight of autumn for main or sideboard because it is such a versatile card! It would also allow the activation of Shalia's ability (not a core reason to splash green but a little bit of sugar on top).

Also why are you only playing a 2 of your sorcerer's wand. if it is a combo piece you want it all the time and do not care if you have one in hand and one on board! a deck causally running 3 knights of autumn or any other artifact removal piece would dismantle the combo?

On a different note if you are looking for more combo decks look up Polyraptor/Raptor Hatchling + Forerunner of the Empire +something that gives indestructible. really fun combo and if you do not have all the combo pieces it can still work really well eg. forerunner tutors polyraptor then play the dino creating 8 polyraptors (and killing the forerunner) 1 card combo :D

[User: SP3CTR3_chelts] Thanks so much for your comment! I don't use Shield Mare at the moment, but I am going to start trying it out, I just want to see if it will work with my curve.

I disagree on going into selesnya for two reasons:

1) I do not have the money for the mana base or the staple cards like Trostani (this is also supposed to be a budget deck)

2) It takes it from lifegain/combo to selesnya tokens (this is of course just my opinion)

Finally, I only run two copies of Sorcerer's Wand because my first intent is to gain life, then combo. Having two more would restrict my life gain slots especially for a card that can only be used in the combo, unlike Famished Paladin, Squire's Devotion, and On Serra's Wings

Thanks again for the comment, I hope I was able answer your questions!

Thanks for answering the questions :) it gave me more of an incite into your deck.

I had to play around with the Combo a bit, that's what i figured,... Famished Combo it's not that budget cause of the Manabase, but stillnot too expensive,...

Love the deck a ton, this combo is incredibly budget! +1 on that note, but how do you feel about dropping some other cards like a couple Healer's Hawks for more Forerunner of the Legion or Sorcerer's Wand? This means there are more cards that rotate out, with the Forerunners, but I still think the wands are really important!

Thanks for the comment! To answer your question, I run Healer's Hawk because my first goal is to gain a comfortable amount of life, then combo off or win with attacking. The first version of this deck primarily focused on combo ex: I had four Forerunner of the Legion and four Sorcerer's Wand. That deck didn't really work bc I died to aggro, control and occasionally midrange decks. Since the deck mainly focused on the combo instead of any other plan, if I couldn't get the combo (which was often) I lost. With this deck I have won through aggro and combo! You are correct that Sorcerer's Wand is important but unlike the other combo pieces eg. Famished Paladin, Squire's Devotion, and On Serra's Wings, it can only really be used combo instead of being used to power up a creature. Forerunner of the Legion is also a nice card but is kind of clunky. I have one in the main deck as a last hope if I really need a Famished Paladin. Orzhov is coming up though and when that comes out, I may have to see what additions I add!